He barely slept at all last night, staring at the milky-white pill bottle in his hand, hesitating.

Although he now had the Qi Gathering Pills, he wasn’t sure whether that demonic woman had tampered with them.

After all, she was from the demonic sect and couldn’t be fully trusted. If she thought that Emily Thompson still couldn’t gather Qi after two years and was just a useless waste with no value to cultivate—and might even become a hidden threat—these pills could be meant to eliminate future trouble. If he took them and died instantly, wouldn’t he be digging his own grave?

It wasn’t that Emily Thompson was naturally suspicious, but in his previous life working for a crime syndicate, he’d seen how the higher-ups dealt with undercover agents who had lost their value, always wary of betrayal.

For the sake of his hard-won second life, it was better to be cautious.

Emily Thompson poured out a lustrous white pill, pondering whether he should find something to test the medicine first.

The first name that popped into his mind was, of course, William Clark.

He couldn’t help it—after all, William Clark was his only friend at Baiyun Temple.

But that thought flashed through his mind and was quickly dismissed.

Emily Thompson’s parents had died young, and in this world, William Clark was his only friend—practically his closest loved one. William Clark always thought of him when something good happened. Using him as a guinea pig would be too heartless...

After thinking for a moment, Emily Thompson got up and left the room.

A short while later, at the back mountain of Baiyun Temple.

Baiyun Temple was located in the Chen Kingdom, and behind it stretched the vast Baiyun Mountain Range, hundreds of miles long. The mountains were deep and rarely visited; aside from cultivators searching for spiritual herbs, only wild beasts roamed there.

Emily Thompson didn’t venture deep into the mountains. It was said that deep within, there were even monsters with spiritual intelligence who could absorb the world’s spiritual energy to cultivate. Right now, he could handle wild beasts, but if he encountered such monsters, he’d only end up as food.

He still needed to test the pills given by the demonic woman, and he’d shamelessly asked for two extra last night for this very purpose.

The best test subjects for pills were, of course, humans. Next best were large animals similar in size to humans—tigers, leopards, wolves, or at worst, even a deer would do.

Unfortunately, Emily Thompson wasn’t lucky. After wandering around the valley for nearly half an hour, he only managed to catch a pheasant and a rabbit. If he used them to test the pill, even if the medicine was fine, the overwhelming spiritual energy would probably make them explode.

Coincidentally, Emily Thompson was hungry too. He went to the creek in the valley, skillfully prepared the two wild animals, gathered some firewood, and with a flick of his finger, conjured a fireball out of thin air. Soon, the aroma of roasting meat filled the air.

Fireball technique was perfect for barbecuing, but unfortunately, there was no cumin or chili. Emily Thompson had to make do. He tore off a rabbit leg and brought it to his mouth, but before he could take a bite, the grass ahead suddenly rustled.

The next moment, a head poked out.

It was a big cat, with black and white markings on its head and a pair of dark, round eyes fixed intently on the rabbit leg in Emily Thompson’s hand, full of longing but also a bit wary and fearful.

Emily Thompson was startled to see the tiger in the grass and instinctively reached for his waist, but quickly relaxed.

Though he no longer had a gun, he was no longer the old Emily Thompson. Not to mention this was just a tiger cub—even a full-grown tiger would be no problem for him now.

Seeing the hunger in the tiger’s eyes, after a brief pause, Emily Thompson casually tossed the rabbit leg over.

The tiger cub leapt from the grass, caught the rabbit leg in midair, and devoured it ravenously. In just a few breaths, the leg was gone.

Then, it fixed its burning gaze on Emily Thompson again, the wariness and fear in its eyes much diminished.

Without hesitation, Emily Thompson tore off another rabbit leg and threw it over. But two legs clearly weren’t enough for a hungry tiger. When it looked at Emily Thompson again, he simply tossed over the pheasant and the remaining half of the rabbit as well.

After finishing the pheasant and rabbit, the tiger cub strolled over to the creek, stuck out its pink tongue to lap up the cool, sweet water, then lay down by the stream, gazing at Emily Thompson with lazy, relaxed eyes.

At this moment, Emily Thompson reached out again, revealing a milky-white pill in his palm, glistening enchantingly in the sunlight.

As Emily Thompson took out the Qi Gathering Pill, a faint medicinal fragrance began to fill the air. The tiger cub hadn’t cared at first, but suddenly sniffed the air, perked up, got up, and fixed its gaze on the pill in Emily Thompson’s hand, slowly padding over.

With a flick of his finger, Emily Thompson sent the pill arcing through the air, landing precisely in the tiger’s mouth.

There’s no such thing as a free lunch—if it ate his food, it had to do something for him in return.

From the moment the tiger cub swallowed the pill, Emily Thompson watched it closely. After ingesting the pill, the cub didn’t show any obvious changes—just seemed a bit drowsy, staggered over to Emily Thompson’s feet, and lay down motionless.

Emily Thompson squatted down and saw its body gently rising and falling, its breathing steady and long, as if it had simply fallen asleep.